Conventional surgical practices for attaching a supporting plate to a fractured long bone commonly requires forming a long skin incision to isolate and expose the fractured bone. Next, the fracture is reduced and fixed in the correct anatomical position, and the supporting plate is secured to the bone across the fracture with bone screws. One disadvantage of this conventional practice is extensive trauma attributable to the long surgical incision that contributes to the pain and the time required to heal both the fracture and the incised tissue overlying the bone.
Other conventional surgical practices require a small incision through which a fracture-supporting plate may be tunneled along the external surface of the bone into proper location across the fracture. Bone screws may then be placed percutaneously by inserting a sharp pin through the skin to locate holes in the plate to guide the drilling of pilot holes into the bone. Bone screws are then tightened into the pilot holes to secure the supporting plate to the bone at a position that can be visualized via fluoroscopy. One disadvantage of this practice is the accuracy of screw placement because two-dimensional visualization via fluoroscopy allows incorrect placement and skewing of the screws.